Latching device



1943- R. L. SARGISSON ET AL 2,336,129

LATCHING DEVICE Fi l ed Nov. 50, 1942 s Sheets-Sheet 1 5 INVENTORS. ROBERT L. SARGISSON 08 R W. HENRIKSON ATTORNEY Dec. 1943- R. L. SARGISSON ET AL 2,336,129

LATCHING DEV'ICE Filed Nov. 30, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS.

ROBERT L. RGI N OSCAR W. RIK N ATIO R NEY Dec. R. L. SIARGISSON ET AL 2,336,129

' LATCHING DEVICE Filed Nov. so, 1942 3 Sheets- Sheet s INVENTORS ROBER .SARGISSON OSCAR .HENRIKSON LL- Z ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 7, 1943 LATC'HING DEVICE Robert L. Sargisson, Berwyn, and Oscar 'W. Henrikson, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Automatic Electric Laboratories, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Application November 30, 1942, Serial No. 467,308

5 Claims.

The present invention relates in general to telephone substation equipment and more par-.

ticularly to that type of telephone substation equipment which is to be used in exposed locations on shipboard, or in other places where the equipment is subject to rough usage, severe shocks, and adverse climatic conditions.

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved watertight compartment for mounting such equipment.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved type of latching and locking mechanism for a casing whereby the cover thereon may be easily latched or unlatched.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a latching mechanism comprising a combination spring lock and cam lock which will I withstand severe shocks or concussions such as encountered at battle stations or in gun turrets of fighting units in actual combat and which will prevent the door of the casing from being accidentally opened under such severe conditions.

A feature of the invention relates to the improved means for breaking the Watertight seal between the cover of the casing and the base thereof when the latching mechanism is manually operated from a closed position to an open position.

Another feature of the invention relates to the improved means which closes the watertight seal between the cover of the case and the base thereof when the latchin mechanism is operated from an open position to a closed position.

Further features of the invention relate to the general design of the various parts of the locking mechanism which are so rugged of construction that they will withstand unusually se latching mechanism with the front cover shown in an open position;

Fig. '2 is a fragmentary side view of the casing with the front cover closed and illustrates the latching mechanism in its locked position;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional View of the latching mechanism taken in the direction of the section line33 of Fig. 2';

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side View of the casing showing the latching mechanism in a partially open position and engaging the keeper on the extended bar of the front cover to forcibly break the watertight seal between the cover and the base;

Fig. 5 is a side view of the latching mechanism taken in the direction of the section line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the latching mechanism showing the details of the various parts thereof;

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary side view of the casing with the front cover closed and shows a modification of the latching mechanism shown in Figs. 1-6, inclusive.

Referring now to the drawings, a casing I0 is provided comprising a metal base II, a metal cover l2 hinged to the base at [3, and a plurality of metal mounting brackets [4, only one of which is shown, for mounting the casing on a suitable wall or bulkhead.

The cover I2 is provided with a pair of strips l5 welded to the edge thereof to form a groove around the entire edge of the cover into which is fitted a rubber watertight sealing gasket 16. At the free end of the cover l2 an extended bar I! is provided which .is securely fastened to the cover .by a plurality of rivets l8 and at the free end of the extended bar I! a cover centering guide portion 19 is formed. Near the end of the extended bar I! a keeper 2!) is securely riveted to the extended bar I! by means of a rivet 2|. It should be understood that instead of securely riveting the keeper 2i] to the extended bar li, a freely rotatable keeper could be provided if desired. The keeper 2!! constitutes a cam follower, as will be clearly understood hereinafter, whereby the latching mechanism securely clamps the cover l2 to the base II in order tc seal the watertight sealing gasket,-and whereby thelatching mechanism'breaks this seal when the locking lever 45 is operated to open the-cover.

In Fig. 1, the base ll of the casing It, in addition to supporting the latching mechanism 22,

' also contains a blank face plate 23 secured within the base II by a plurality of screws 24, only two of which are shown, and a ringer mechanism 25 is mounted on the top thereof.

It should be understood that although applicant has shown a blank face plate 23, because the apparatus to be mounted within the casing and upon the face plate forms no part of applicants invention, a face plate containing apparatus of the type disclosed. in the application of H. F. Obergfell, Serial No. 445,129, filed May 30, 1942, may be substituted for applicants blank tion [9 on the extended bar parent hereinafter.

latched or open position in Fig. 1, will now be described in detail in connection with the-drawings comprising Figs. 2-6, inclusive.

Referring particularly to Fig. 6, a metal plate 26 is provided with four counter-bored hole 21, the depth of the counter-bored holes being such that the heads of the rivets 28 will be below the surface 29 when the plate is riveted in place upon the base l|, so as not to interfere with the latching member 30 as it is rotated to latch and unlatch the cover. Th metal plate 26 is securely riveted to the base I with the centering guide receiving portion 3| in alignment with the centering guide por- Upon the upper surface of the plate 26 a hub 32 is provided which forms the bearing surface for the latching member .33. Attention is called to the fact that the hub 32 is slightly thicker than the thickness of the metal of the latching member 30 so that the latching member maybe freely rotated on the hub 32 after the clamping plate 4| has been fastened in place against the upper surface of the hub 32 by means of the flat headretaining screw'42.

7 The latchin member 30 is formed with'two upwardly extending ears 33. and 34 and a hook 35 comprising two cam surfaces 36 and 31.; A hole 38 is provided in the upwardly extending ear 33 and a hole 39 is provided'in theupwardly'extending car 34, the purpose of which will be more ap- Furthermore, a bearing 43 is provided in the latching member 3ll which is slightly larger in diameter than the hub 32 on the metal plate 26. By placing the latching member 30 on the metal plate 26 so that the bearing 40 engages the hub 32and so that the underside of the latching member 30 engages the'bearing surface 29,'the latching member 30 may be'readily rotated 0n the metal plate 26.

In order to retain the latching member 30in its proper place upon the hub'32, a clamping plate 4|, the underside of which also forms a bearing surface for the latching member 30, is provided "which is securely fastened to the upper surface of means of' a flat head retaining the hub 32 by screw 42.

. As has been previously mentioned, the'tln'ckness of the material of the latching member 30 is slightly less than the thickness of the material forming the hub 32. It has also been mentioned that the bearing surface 29 on the plate 26, the bottom surface of the clamping plate 4| ,and the hub 32, form the bearing surfaces upon which the latching member 30 may be rotated. In order 'toprevent the-clamping'plate 4| from rotating whenever the latching member 30 is rotated and thereby loosen the flat head retainingscrew 42, a smallpin 43 is securely fastened to the upper surface of thehub 32; Furthermore, a pin redelving hole 44, which is not drilled clear through the clamping plate 4 I, is provided in the lowersur- V ifaceiof the clampin plate to receive the. pin 43 whenthe clamping plateis mounted in place upon the hub 3 2. I t: will be-readily-understood that when the clamping plate is fastened in place upon hereinafter.

the upper surface of the hub 32 with the pin 43 inserted into the pin receiving hole 44, the clamping plate 4| is securely locked against rotation.

In order to manually control the latching member 30 a handle is provided comprising a metal locking lever 45, and a metal knob 46. At the end of the lever 45 a brass tip 4'! is provided in order to form a slidable bearing surface for the end of the lever 45 as will be more clearly understood Furthermore, a pin receiving hole 48 is drilled through the lever 45 to receive a spring I retaining pin 49.

- and the base l.

. In assembling the handle to the latching member, the lever 45 is inserted through the hole 38 in the upwardly extending ear 33. A helical spring 50 and a retaining washer 5| are slid over the shaft of the lever 45 as the lever is inserted through the hole 33 in the upwardly extending ear 34. With the parts in this position the helical spring 59 is compressed sufliciently, by any means available, between the upwardly extending ear33 and the washer 5| to permit the spring retaining pin 49 to be inserted into the pin receiving 'hole 48. When the compression of the helical spring 55 is released, the pin 49 normally holds the spring slightly compressed so that the sprin tension holds the pin 49 against the upwardly extending ear 34 with the tip'41 of the lever 45 ex tending through the hole 39 beyond the upwardly extending ear 34 as is clearly illustrated in Figs. 2, 4, 5, and 7. When these parts are assembled in this manner the holes'38 and 39 in the two upwardly extending ears 33 and 34 provide a slidable fit for the lever .45 and the knob 46 enables the user to pull the lever '45 against the tension of the spring 50 preparatory'to rotating the lever 45 in a clockwisedir'ection when the latching mechanism is operated from a latched to anunlatched position.

' By referring to Fig. 3 it will be noted that when the latching mechanism 22 is in a locked position "the rubber sealing gasket I 6-is compressed due to the fact that the edge of the base i I has been forcedinto'the rubber; thereby creating a watertightseal between the cover I2 With the latching mechanism in the locked position shown in Fig. 2, to unlatch the cover l2 the user must first pull the lever 45 downwardly, compressingthe helical spring 50 sufiiciently to enable the tip 4Ton the lever 45 to clear the left-hand edge of the catch member 52. After the tip on the. lever 45 has been pulled down'sufiic'iently to clear the left-hand edge of the catch member 52 the user may then rotate the lever in a clockwisedirection; After the lever 45 has been rotated sufiiciently to permit the tip 41 to clear the left-hand edge of the catch member 52, theuser mayrelease the pull onthe lever to permit the helical spring 5ll to restore the lever to its normal position. As the lever is rotated the latching member 30 is also rotated, thereby permitting the cam portion 31 on the hook 35 to engage the keeper 20. When the rotation of the lever in a clockwise direction hasreached the position shown in Fig; 4,.it will be noted that the action of thecam portion 3! V on the keeper 2!] gradually causes the centering 7 guide portion l9 tobe forced out of the centering guide receiving portion 3|; Since the. centering guide portion i9 and the keeper 2!! are mounted on the extended bar l1, and since the bar I! is rigidly secured to the cover l2, the coveri s forced open by the cam action between the foam portion 31 and the keeper 28. It should be understood that this cam action is an essential part of applicants latching mechanism because, due to the clamping action between the cover l2 and the base II, the compressed rubber gasket '16 has a tendency to stick rather securely, thus tending to prevent the cover l2 from being opened. If no cam action is provided, it may be necessary to pry the cover open, by means of a screw driver or some other tool, to break the watertight seal between the cover and' the base. The lever 45 may now be rotated further by the user to the position shown in Fig. 1, at which position the catch member 52 acts as a stop member and prevents further rotation thereof. After the cover l2 has been forced open by the action of the cam surface 37, the cover may be swungopen to the position shown in Fig. 1 in order that the user may gain access to the interior of the casing.

In order to close the cover it and perfect the watertight seal between the cover !2 and the base it, the user closes the cover 12 and then rotates the lever in a counterclockwise direction from the position shown in Fig. 4. It may be well to mention that due to the resiliency of the rubber sealing gasket It the cover l2 is prevented from being completely closed by ordinary effort on the part of the user. However, the cover i2 is permitted to close sufficiently so that the cam surface 36 on the hook 35 engages the left-hand peripheral surface of the keeper 20 (Fig. 4') as the lever 45 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction. After the cam surface 36 has engaged the keeper 20 and as the lever s5 is further rotated in the counterclockwise direction, the cam action of the cam surface 36 upon the keeper causes the cover 2 to be gradually drawn against the edge of the base H thereby perfecting the watertight seal by compressing the rubber gasket 46. Furthermore, it should be noted that the centering guide portion 9 at the end of the extended bar I! is gradually drawn into the centering guide receiving portion 3| on the metal plate 26 thereby preventing the cover 12 from being forced out of alignment.

It should also be noted by reference to Figs. 4 and 5 that the tip 41 on the lever 45 engages the underside of the catch member 52 as the lever #25 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction. Accordingly, the underside of the catch member 52 acts as a cam surface and causes the helical spring 56 to be compressed by the action of the tip M as it passes along the underside of the catch member 52 during the final stages of the rotation of the lever 55. When the tip- 41 passes beyond the left-hand edge of the catch member 52 (Fig. 4), during the counterclockwise rotation of the lever, the helical spring 59 is released and it forces the lever 45 upwardly adjacent to the side of the left-hand edge of the catch member 52 to assume the position shown in Fig. 2.

It will be apparent from Fig. 2 that the catch member 52 in conjunction with the helical spring on the lever S5 acts as a snap lock in order to prevent cloc wise rotation of the lever 45 unless the user deliberately performs the necessary action of pulling the lever 45 downwardly and then rotating the same in a clockwise direction when he desires to open the cover.

By referring to the modified form of latching mechanism shown in Fig. 7 it will be noted that it is quite similar to the latching mechanism shown in Figs. 1-6, inclusive. The main difference is limited to the use of the head of the rivet 2| as a centering guide for the cover it and V the provision of a separate cover guide receiver plate 54 which is formed of a separate metal plate and riveted to the base II. More specifically, the extended bar 53 is riveted to the cover l2 in the usual manner and the opposite end of the bar is rounded off to provide a smooth surface. Near the rounded end of the bar 53 the keeper 2G is riveted thereto by means of a rivet 2| to provide a cam follower in the same manner as has beendisclosed in Fig. 2. The head of rivet 2|, which is on the reverse side of the extended bar 53, has the same general contour as the keeper 20 and constitutes the centering guide for the cover l2 in the same manner as the centering guide l9 (Figs- 2 and 4). An independent centering guide receiving plate 54 is securely fastened to the base ll by means of a plurality of rivets 55. In order to provide sufficient space to permit the centering guide receiving plate to be mounted, the circular metal plate 26 is cut off along the left edge thereof. All of the remaining parts of the latching mechanism and the operation thereof to latch and unlatch the cover are exactly the same as has been previously described.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that when the cover i2 is in its latched position the entry of water or moisture into the inside of the casing is positively prevented and no damage to the apparatus mounted within the casing can result. It will also be apparent that upplicant has devised a new and novel latching mechanism for a water-tight casing which mechreadily controlled by the user to easily open the cover when desired.

In this connection, it is to be noted that when the cover 12 is closed and the latching mechanism is operated to the position shown in Fig. 2 to lock the cover [2, the cover centering guide is securely held by the centering guide receiving portion to positively prevent the cover from shiftingout of alignment with respect to the base ll. Furthermore, the hook portion of the latching member securely holds the keeper and consequently the cover [2 to prevent the cover from being forced open under any shock or concussion, such as encountered at battle stations on board fighting units. To insure that the cover is prevented from springing open under such severe shock or shell concussions, the lockin lever is prevented from being rotated in a clockwise direction by the catch member 52 and is prevented from rotating in a counterclockwise direction by the combination of the hook portion 35 and the keeper 20.

What is claimed is:

l. A latching mechanism for two relatively movable closure members having a keeper secured to one member, comprising a latch secured to the other of said two members, said latch including a pair of cam surfaces adapted to engage the keeper, means for actuating said latch into engagement with the keeper to cause one of said cam surfaces to gradually draw said two members tightly together, restraining means for restraining return movement of said latch actuating means after said two members have been tightly drawn together, and resilient means cooperating with said latch actuating means compressible to permit said latch actuating means to be withdrawn from the influence of said restraining means and actuated to cause the other of said pair of cam surfaces to gradually disengage the keeper to force said two members apart from one another. Y,

2. In a latching mechanism having a latch cam adapted to engage a keeper, a handle slidably mounted upon said latch cam for rotating said latch cam in one direction into engagement with the keeper and for rotating said latch cam in the opposite direction to disengage the latch cam from the keeper, resilient means normally exerting a pressure to force said slidable handle in one direction on said latch cam, and catch means in the path of rotation of said handle and engageable therewith, as said handle is rotated to engage said latch cam with the keeper, for sliding said handle in one direction I against the pressure exerted by said resilient means to permit said handle to be rotated beyond said catch means and to thereafter permit said resilient means to restore said handle to its normal position, said catch means preventing the rotation of said handle and latch cam in said opposite direction except when external pressure is exerted on said handle to overcome the pressure of said resilient means.

3. In a latching mechanism having a hook member adapted to engage a keeper, a slidable handle on said hook member for rotating it in a first direction to engage said keeper and for rotating it in a second direction to disengage said keeper, a spring member normally maintaining said slidable handle in a first position on said hook member, means interposed in the path of rotation of said handle in said first direction for sliding said. handle from said first position to a second position to thereby compress said spring member and permit said handle to be rotated beyond said interposing means, said spring thereafter restoring said slidable handle to said first position to thereby prevent rotation of said handle in said second direction unless said slidable handle is manually moved to said second position.

4. In a latching mechanism having a hook member adapted to engage and disengage a keeper, a spring controlled handle for controlling said hook member, a cam surface on said handle, a catch member in the path of rotation of said handle, said cam surface effective upon rotation of said handle, in a direction to engage said catch member, to gradually compress the spring of said handle to permit said cam surface to be moved beyond said catch member as the handle is further rotated, said spring efiective thereafterto restore said handle and cam surface to such a position that rotation of said handle in the opposite direction is prevented by said catch means.

5. In a latching mechanism including a spring control handle having a cam surface, catch means in the path of rotation of said handle, said cam surface operated by rotation of said handle upon engagement with said catch means to cause compression of said spring and movement of said handle to permit said cam surface to be moved beyond said catch means as the handle is further rotated, said spring effective thereafter to restore said handle and cam surface to such a position that rotation of said handle in the opposite direction is prevented by said catch means.

ROBERT L. SARGISSON. OSCAR W. HENRIKSON. 

